


The DiViles and a Boy Named Kris

by shnuffeluv



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adoption, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boarding School, Family Fluff, Foster Care, Gen, Superheroes, Supervillains, The Bad Guys are Good Guys, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/shnuffeluv
Summary: Kris knows this is his chance for everyone to treat him the way he always wanted to be treated. All he has to do is take down a supervillain that no one has returned from beating. Easy....Or not.
Relationships: Kristopher Charleston (OC) & Lucifer DiVile (OC)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7
Collections: Heart Attack Exchange 2020





	The DiViles and a Boy Named Kris

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elsin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elsin/gifts).



Sliding the suit Kris had designed himself up his arms, he felt the compression material do its work as he activated it and sighed contentedly. It was a shame that he could only wear this suit when it came time to battle villains, but the sheer amount of comfortable he finally felt whenever he had to go out into battle was definitely worth it. He mussed his hair into its usual style he wore whenever he fought in battles, and made sure that his voice modular was working with a simple, "Testing, testing, one, two, three..." and it was perfect.

He walked out of the bathrooms, ignoring the trapezoid on the side of the door instead of the rectangle he wished it was. The headmistress had called him for this mission, and he would complete it, come hell or high water, because she said that if he did this, she would change his name in the records from... _that,_ to Kris. He had to do this. Even if this villain was the biggest one he had fought yet. Even if this villain had superpowers like the school had taught kids like Kris to use.

...Even if everyone who fought this supervillain had yet to return. He would finish the battle this fiend had started.

He ran through the halls, dodging students who were either heading to their classes or hanging out on their free periods. They all yelped or rushed out of his way, and a few gave him pitying looks while most others looked annoyed or smug. They all knew where he was going. They all knew what he was attempting at the request of the headmistress. And they all figured they'd never see him again. He'd show them, though. He would show them _all_ exactly how much of a badass he was.

Getting to the doors of the school, Kris fired up his rockets and flew out of the school at superhuman speed, heading to the metropolis of a city that was a little more than a half-hour drive away from the school. It took ten minutes to fly there, and when he landed in front of a man wearing a decked out suit in a bright red standing in the middle of the street, he knew he had found the right guy. "Hold it right there!" Kris said, pleased that his voice modular made him sound like a grown man. This guy never had to know who he was dealing with.

The man looked him over, before laughing. "Hold on there, kid. You can't be more than, what, seventeen? Let the adults handle this battle, 'kay?"

"I will not stand by and let you terrorize the city!" Kris snapped back, getting his lightning ready, charging it in his veins. "Fight me like a man or surrender!"

The man chuckled. "Well, who am I to deny an order from such an up-and-coming hero?" he asked, before throwing molten lava out of thin air at Kris.

Kris yelped and only by quick reflexes and rockets did he _not_ get a face full of molten rock. He noticed that there was a hole missing from the asphalt behind the man, and Kris realized the lava wasn't from thin air, it was from actual rock.

And they were in a city full of sidewalks, paved roads, and all sorts of other things made of earth that could be melted.

Shit.

Kris kept moving, trying to get closer to the man, rather unsuccessfully. Every time the man deemed him too close, he would melt the road in front of him and yank it up as a wall of lava. Kris yanked out a strip of metal from his utility belt and took a crack shot from over the man's head, onto his wrist. The man laughed as it wrapped around him like a slap bracelet. "What's this supposed to be?"

As Kris strode forward, the man motioned for more lava to form, but nothing did. His eyes widened and he tried to take the bracelet off, but it was securely in place. "It's a power neutralizer. Designed it myself. Makes sure that whatever power you have, it cannot be utilized so long as you have the bracelet on you."

The man yanked on it, hard enough to make Kris wince, but it didn't come off. The man huffed. "Well, I was hoping to take you out the easy way, but if you want to make this difficult, that's your prerogative, I suppose."

"Difficult?" Kris scoffed. "You have to be kidding me. What else can you possibly do?!"

The man snapped his fingers, and instantly, five robots easily twice as tall as Kris stormed out of the side streets. Kris sighed, but he'd been trained for this, he knew what he had signed up for when coming out here, and a bunch of robots wasn't exactly the most difficult thing he could have fought. So he rushed them and charged himself with lightning to fry their circuits.

Kris landed a punch where he assumed the motherboard was that should have made the entire block have a blackout, and yet, the robot didn't respond. Simply tried to take his head off, and nearly succeeded, crating a tear in Kris' voice modulator.

"I've programmed these robots with all the best fighting styles in the world, you can't possibly—" the man was cut off when one of the robots ground its foot on Kris' and Kris screamed, in a very high-pitched and very distinctly not-an-adult-yet voice.

The man whirled around in shock, but before he could do anything more than stare, Kris was punched at full force by one of the robots, sending him flying down the street, head connecting with the pavement as his entire body flipped over itself and he was left groaning on the floor. The robots were coming at him, but the man screamed, "No! Stop! Halt! Power down!"

Kris' vision was swimming enough he couldn't tell if the robots were listening. The man rushed over to him and Kris tried to fight off his hands, rather unsuccessfully. "Shit, I thought they had finally learned their lesson!" the man growled. "Kid, can you hear me? Are you all right?"

Kris tried to push himself up, but his arms were shaking too much and his vision was turning black. "Suit..." he mumbled.

"What? Your suit?" the man asked, almost frantic. "What about it?"

"Binder..." Kris managed, coughing profusely. He wasn't sure that punch hadn't broken his ribs, and that was bad news in a binder. His head felt so impossibly heavy, and as he slipped into unconsciousness, he just hoped that the headmistress didn't find out he failed.

* * *

Kris woke up with a splitting headache, his entire face scrunched in pain. "God," he mumbled. "What semi tried to kill me?"

He opened his eyes to find himself, not in the nurse's office, not in his room, but in a brightly-colored cream room he had never seen before. He sat up slowly, trying not to puke. His head had been bandaged, and he was out of his suit, instead wearing a simple nightgown and pajama pants. He winced as he felt at his chest. Yeah, he definitely had broken at least one rib. And had a concussion. He had to get out of here, wherever "here" was. He needed to get back to school to prove he was alive.

Managing to get to the edge of the door, Kris noticed there was something small and sharp in a corner of the room. Nabbing it quickly, he realized it was a dagger. Maybe he could fight his way out of this. Even if he was unsuccessful, he could do some damage to the guy who had thrown lava at him. He slipped out of the room silently, finding no one in the hall outside. Sloppy. He managed to get down the stairs at the end of the hall and noticed a living room was nearby. He tried to creep past it quietly, as several voices were coming from it. He made it to what looked like a front door, when an obnoxious _CREAAAAAAK_ came from under his feet. He froze. The talking stopped. Time stood still.

Then, there were hands grabbing at his arms and dragging him back into the house. Many more hands than just the man he had fought before. He freaked, gasping for breath and struggling to get free.

"Hey! Stop it! You three! Let them go!"

The hands left and Kris sank to the floor, brandishing the dagger in front of him. Two boys and a girl stood there, looking at him in horror. Behind them, the man from earlier. "Kid, you okay?" he asked in a voice that had no right to be that soft.

Kris could feel bile rising in his throat. "Why?" he asked, head throbbing. "Why did you bring me here?"

The man shrugged. "You think I'd let you go back to whoever sent you to fight me, a grown adult?"

Kris' breathing picked up. "I have to get back. Take me back!"

He raised the dagger up at the man, who simply raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "No," he said. "You've been asleep for almost two days, I'm fairly certain they're convinced you're dead."

"No!" Kris exclaimed, surging to his feet and attempting to get to the man. Before he could, though, the three kids stood in his way, one with shadows causing tendrils around his limbs, another causing the temperature to drop about ten degrees, and the girl just stood there, not doing anything but standing in his way, and he knew that instantly she would be the most dangerous one in his way. And he had no chance against a fight against three superpowered kids, even if they were younger than him. "Take me back."

The man stared at him. "Carlisle, Asher, please don't threaten our new guest with your powers. They are confused and injured, and they don't know the full story of what has happened yet. Jen, go grab the scanner, will you?"

The boys reluctantly sheathed their powers, and the girl walked away with a huff. "Do you have a name I can call you?" the man asked.

Kris was tempted. He was so, _so_ tempted. But names were not something you could just casually give out.

"We're going to find out who you are in a moment anyway," the man said. "That scanner has backdoors into every school for supers in the country, and quite a few internationally, as well."

Curse the headmistress! She wouldn't have changed his name unless he succeeded. They would know who he was "supposed" to be if he didn't tell them now. "Kris," he said simply.

"Short for anything? Christina, perhaps?" the man asked. "I don't know if that voice changer was male because you can hardly pass for a grown woman, or if it was for something else."

"It's short for Kristopher," Kris shot back.

The man didn't even flinch. "Right. He/him pronouns, then?"

Kris could feel the fight draining from him to be replaced with confusion. No one he had ever met had been this considerate of his identity before. "Yes," he said slowly, hesitantly. Decidedly undecided.

Jen returned with a thumb scanner and held it out to Kris expectantly. "Put your thumb on it. Or I'll make you," she said.

"That's no way to treat a guest, Jen," the man tutted.

She gave him a mutinous look. "They're not a guest. They tried to kill you."

"As has everyone here," the man replied smoothly. "He's a guest. Kris, please put your thumb on the scanner."

Kris minutely shook his head. "I don't want to," he said softly.

"I _will_ make you," Jen threatened.

Kris bared his teeth. "You can try all you want, I won't let you."

The man sighed. "Children," he warned. "Please don't kill each other. I try so hard to avoid that."

Without warning, a door burst open behind the man, and a child who couldn't be older than six rushed forward, crying out, "Daddy! Did they wake up yet?! Can I say hi to them!"

The child ran forward, but froze when they saw Kris, and hid behind the man's legs. "Hi," they said softly.

Kris gave them a half-hearted wave. "Hey," he offered. He looked to the man. "You kidnap children if your off-time?"

"Daddy didn't kidnap us!" the child snapped. "He _saved_ us! He saved us from that evil thing you call school!"

"Oh, you allow them to be truants, lovely," Kris said drily.

"Don't be ridiculous," the man sniffed. "They go to school. They just don't go to _your_ school."

Kris blinked. "Sorry, what?" he asked. "Supers?"

The man nodded.

"You're raising supers to become villains?" Kris asked disbelievingly.

"I raise them to become people. Not heroes, not villains. People. Individuals." The man shook his head. "I don't want to force them to be anything."

Kris gave the man a doubtful look.

The man gave Kris a look that said clearly he wasn't about to pull his punches. "Let me see here. You were a young child, I imagine, when you discovered your powers. Lightning abilities would not be very visible from birth, so you might have a couple of memories of your birth family. Then, something happened. Your powers became visible. And since then, you haven't seen hide nor hair of your birth family. You were whisked away to a school that taught you and learned all about your powers and taught you to use them. Oh, but of course, that's not enough. You learn how to use your powers, but they can't allow you to go back to your family, because they know about your powers now, and they'd use you, supposedly worse than that school you go to. So they keep you around. Raise you until you're eighteen, and then they push you towards working for them in whatever capacity they want you to. A hero, they tell you. The one to save the world when it becomes threatened by rogue supers. When in fact they use you for their own gain and you never get to have a life outside them. You marry within those who are supers. You have kids who are supers. If you're lucky, you might be able to see them on the holidays. If you're not lucky, well, they get whisked away to a school that you can't name and you never see them again.

"Now, naturally you don't know about the adulthood part of that. Not yet. But me, well..." the man's face darkened. "I know more about that than I would prefer to."

"I _am_ a hero," Kris said, hands balled into fists. "I've stopped more villains and would-be dictators than I can count. And I don't see my birth family because they might use me for their own gain."

"But the school that sent you out to fight me, they don't do that?" the man asked doubtfully.

"Luce, he's clearly not going to believe you. We should just send him back," Jen said icily.

"You took a while to warm up to me as well, Jen," the man pointed out.

Jen gave Kris a disdainful stare. "True. But I didn't have my allegiances tied so tightly to that school that they suffocated me. He's a lost cause."

Without warning, Jen grabbed Kris' hand and forced his thumb on the scanner. "Hey!" Kris exclaimed, shocking her and the system in the process.

Jen yelped and dropped the fried scanner, which broke as it hit the hard wooden floor.

The man pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's his name, Jen?" he asked. "I know you read _that_ much at least."

"L—"

"—Last name," the man said, voice dropping into the deadly range without warning. "Kris, breathe."

Kris realized he had tensed up and stopped breathing, sparks flying off his fingers. He took a breath. The sparks subsided, but the dread in his stomach remained.

"Jen, we do not deadname people in this house. No matter how much we don't like them. They will always, _always,_ be the name they chose. Never the name they abandoned. Now. What is Kris' last name?"

Jen huffed. "Charleston."

"Well, then. Mister Charleston," the man said to Kris. "It looks like you and I need to have a private talk. Alone," he said with a pointed look at Jen.

Jen stormed off, and the two boys, Carlisle and Asher, followed her.

"Can I be part of the talk, Daddy?" the little kid asked hopefully.

"Not today, Lily, all right?" the man said softly. "You can talk to Kris another time, or talk to me later, but I need to be alone when I talk to him right now."

Lily seemed to wilt a little but said, "Okay," and followed the others to the living room.

Kris watched them in bewilderment as the two boys grabbed board games and argued over which one to play. "Let's talk out back," the man said.

Kris followed him into a decently-sized back yard. "Is there something I can call you? Since you know my name, now?" he asked.

"Lucifer," the man said.

Kris snorted. "You're joking," he said.

"I'm really not. I hated my given name, so I renamed myself. I understand the importance of using the name you chose rather than the one you were given," Lucifer said.

"Okay," Kris said, sitting down at a small-ish picnic table. Lucifer sat across from him. "That explains one thing. But...the pronouns? The kids? Everything else? I'm still confused."

"We can talk about those one at a time," Lucifer offered. "But what's your biggest question? We can start there."

"Did you go to my school?" Kris asked.

"Most likely, since I was raised around here," Lucifer said. "Miss Perry still the headmistress?"

Kris wrinkled his nose at her name and Lucifer laughed. "I'm taking that as a yes," he said. "And let me guess, she's horribly transphobic."

"What gave it away?" Kris asked drily. "The use of my deadname in the records? The fact that I hand-designed my compression suit? Because you can probably tell the difference between expertly made and hand made if you went to my school." Lucifer nodded his agreement. "I had to create everything on my own. Miss Perry wanted me to have a skin-tight suit that would do absolutely nothing to hide my curves whenever they grow in."

Lucifer looked disgusted. "She's a horrible excuse of a human being. I knew that when she kidnapped me and never allowed me to see my family again, but this does nothing to change my opinion of her. If anything, it just fuels my hatred of her."

Kris nodded. "I don't like her," he said simply.

"Not many people on my side do," Lucifer said.

"I'm not on your side," Kris snapped.

Lucifer shrugged. "You can be, if you want."

Kris scoffed.

"Seriously. You don't have to be. You can grow up to be the hero you always dreamed of being, you could join me on my side, or you can just have an ordinary life and hide your powers. What you do here? Is up to you. If you want to stay, of course."

"If?" Kris asked. "I get...I get a choice?"

"Well, naturally," Lucifer said. "If you really want to go back to that horrid place so desperately I won't exactly stop you. I'll even drive you there, if you really want me to. Well. I'll drop you off about a mile or so away. But you'd be allowed to return."

Kris considered. He could go back. He could be that hero. He could be the first to return from a battle with Lucifer. But...he would have failed. And Miss Perry would know that he had failed. He'd be cooped up in the nurse's office for days after a concussion, and then it would be back to working hard at classes he didn't care about, constant deadnaming, and his peers mocking him for one thing or another. "I don't think I want to go back," he said simply. "But...I'm not sure if I want to stay here, either."

"That's fine," Lucifer informed him. "I have a whole network of houses like this. If you find one that clicks with you, you're welcome to stay there."

"There's a network of places like this?" Kris asked.

"There's a network of super schools. Who's to say there can't be a network of foster homes for supers?" Lucifer challenged.

Kris sighed, resting his chin on the picnic table. "This is so much information," he said simply.

"I know," Lucifer said simply. "You're welcome to think it over for a couple days. You need to rest up after your concussion anyway. Give it some time to think through. I can ask your answer at the end of the school week for the other four. That's five days, starting tomorrow."

"Okay," Kris said uncertainly. At least he was given time to think this over. He never had that back at the school. "What do I do until then?"

Lucifer shrugged. "It's up to you. You can go back inside and play board games with the others, you could find something else to do around here. I need to make dinner for the kids soon enough. And then I have to make some calls to my friends to see if any of them can come over and visit to see if there's anyone you'd like to stay with, if not me."

Kris didn't know what to do. There was the possibility that he could go back, but he'd be considered a failure. Unless, of course...he got all the information on these rogue supers stealing the kids away from the schools. That could do it! He could find out this whole network and return to the school a hero, knowing the names and locations of all these rogues! That was genius! All he had to do was hold out for the week, and he'd be golden! He bit back a smile. "Sounds great," he said. "If you'd let me have my phone back, just to confirm the date? I don't know you well enough to trust you when you say I've been asleep for two days."

"Okay, well, it was more a day and a half, but sure, I'll let you borrow your phone. Just long enough to get that information, though. I really don't want you making your concussion worse."

"Yeah," Kris said, standing up as Lucifer stood.

Lucifer led Kris back to the room he was staying in and opened a safe under the bed. "Whenever you make your desicion about whether or not to stay here, I'll let you have the password to this safe so you can get your phone and suit yourself. Until then, I'm keeping this for now. Don't want you to hurt yourself from staring at a phone screen for too long."

Kris rolled his eyes but opened his phone to verify the time. Mid-morning, two days after his battle with Lucifer. Great. He was an honest man. Those were the hardest people to sneak around. "Thanks," he said, tapping his phone a couple times, under the guise of clearing notifications, but instead opening up an email that he could access through electrical pulses, whether or not he had his phone immediately on him. He passed it back to Lucifer after putting it in sleep mode again, and Lucifer put it back in the safe. "Would you care to help me with dinner? I believe I have a few calls to make before then, in order to find a place for you."

"Sure," Kris said.

"Excellent, please follow me," Lucifer said.

* * *

Kris worked hard next to Lucifer. One of the good things about taking Home Ec at the school was that he knew what Lucifer expected of him. He was working hard at the dinner when there was a knock at the door and Lucifer left the room. When he returned, it was with a smartly-dressed woman who was looking Kris up and down the second she layed eyes on him. "And this is Kris, Diana."

Kris held his breath as he waited to see what this woman said in terms of greeting him. Hopefully, it wouldn't be _too_ transphobic...

"Nice to meet you, Kris," she said simply. "Miss Perry awful as ever, I presume?"

"Deadnaming him, yes," Lucifer said with distaste.

"I'd love to disembowel that woman," Diana said with a growl. "That's no way to treat a child."

Kris blinked, frowning. "Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked.

"Well, probably," she laughed. "I _am_ the Ice Queen, after all."

The Ice Queen. Emotional manipulator, able to make people completely apathetic for as long as she was within range. A powerful villain indeed. Kris blinked. "And you raise kids?"

"My power is to make _other_ people not care, darling. Doesn't mean I don't have a heart," she scoffed. "If you come home with me, you'd be welcome. We have a small beach house not far from the city. You know the one, where I do most of my work from?"

Kris nodded weakly. She was just giving that information out? _There's a lot of beach houses out there,_ he reasoned.

 _Yeah, but how many have suspicious activity attached to them through Miss Perry's surveilance?_ he realized. Narrowing that down should be a snap with Miss Perry's resources, and he tapped his pointer finger and thumb together in Morse code to make sure his phone got the message. Diana and Lucifer failed to notice.

Lucifer came over to the pot of stew he and Kris had been working on and took an experimental taste. "Oh, that's perfect," he said with a pleased smile. "Why don't we serve up the bowls now, Diana? Your kids must be hungry from the trip."

"Ain't that the truth!" she laughed, before whistling. "Kids! Dinner!" she called.

Everyone came through and got bowls, and there was just enough for everyone to get two bowls full. Kris felt full for the first time in a long time after eating with everyone here. He was just about ready to fall asleep in the evening sun when the girl from before, Lily, hopped up on the bench next to him. "D'you wanna play Go Fish?" she asked him with wide, excited eyes and a deck of cards in her hands."

"...Sure, why not," Kris replied.

The two of them began playing, and got through most of the pile before Lily won. "Good game," Kris told her. "You're really sharp."

"My power is estimating probabilities," Lily said. "I'm not allowed to play poker, according to Daddy, because I'd clean everyone out."

"I don't doubt it," Kris laughed. "You're excellent. I never suspected."

Lily beamed. "Do you wanna play with the rest of us? It looks like the others are gonna start up some soccer soon!"

"I should probably go easy," Kris said gently. "Thank you for offering, though."

Lily nodded and scrambled off to play with the other kids. Kris just rested in the sun, feeling at peace for the first time in a very long time. No one at school ever really wanted to play with him; he was a bit of an odd-ball. But everyone here seemed at least cordial to him, except Jen. Jen still hated him for some reason. But that was no big deal. He could deal with one girl snarling at him.

It was like Kris blinked and then Lucifer was gently rousing him, convincing him to go upstairs and into bed, telling him that he could find some more people tomorrow to talk to, even if it was only online. Kris went to bed sleepily, and barely able to think straight. He passed out before his head hit the pillow, and was ready to sleep for at least ten hours before he even _considered_ waking up.

The next morning, he was roused briefly by shuffling in the hallway, and Jen staring at him in his doorway, before Lucifer moved her away and Kris fell asleep again. When he woke up, the shadows were all different, and Kris blinked awake and stumbled out of bed to see there were clothes waiting for him on the doorknob.

He changed into the loose-fitting T-shirt and jeans, and padded out of the room to find Lucifer and a man talking in the living room below. When Kris was about to enter the room, the man put his hand on Lucifer's shoulder and Lucifer sighed, saying, "You're right, you're right. I just wish it didn't have to happen this way."

"I know," the man said softly. "But it'll be okay in the end."

Lucifer sighed again. "I know." He looked up and gave Kris a weak smile. "Hello, Kris. How are you feeling?"

"Better," Kris answered honestly. "Who is this?"

Lucifer looked over to the other man and asked, "Do you mind...?"

"Not at all," the man said in a thick southern drawl, smiling. "I'm Luce's father."

Kris blinked. The man didn't look all that older than Lucifer, and had barely any wrinkles on his face. "I wouldn't have guessed."

"Yeah, well, I knocked a girl up when we were teens, and she had this baby boy right here," the man said, nudging Lucifer. "'Course, the school we went to didn't like that and they moved him up north here to keep him away from me. Thought I was gonna go rogue and be a bad influence on him. Now, I _did_ go rogue, but I like to think that when we found each other again I did right by him and showed him a proper moral compass."

"Proper moral compass?" Kris asked skeptically. "The man's a supervillain."

"He attacks the schools, sure, but not much else," the man explained. "He's always tryin' to make sure that kids don't get whisked away from their families, and occasionally causes a distraction to do it. It's nothin' big and heinous."

Kris pursed his lips together. He didn't agree with the man's assessment, but didn't want to get in a fight, either. "If you say so," Kris said. "Do you foster supers, as well?"

"Oh, nah," the man said. "But I know just about every super who does. And Luce asked me for some advice this mornin'."

"Hopefully everything's all right?" Kris asked.

"Everythin's fine," the man drawled, looking Kris over. "So long as you're fine?"

"Yeah," Kris breathed. This man's shrewd eyes weren't exactly putting Kris at ease. "I'm okay."

The man beamed. "Then we're better than good, because according to Lucie here you were a shakin' mess yesterday!"

Lucifer cleared his throat. "Well, thanks for stopping by and giving me those numbers, Dad. Really appreciate it."

"Of course," the man said, a glint in his eye. "And you let me know when the young Mister Charleston here settles into his new home, all right?"

"Will do," Lucifer said as his dad stood and took his leave.

"He seems nice," Kris said idly after he left.

"He is, for the most part. Bit of a rebel in his teen years, but he's primarily grown out of it by now," Lucifer laughed. "I say mostly because he's still a gambler and a supervillain who always bets on the long shot."

Kris nodded. "So, you have a list of all the supers in the area who foster?"

"All the supers on the _East Coast_ who foster, and a few additional ones after that," Lucifer said. "We want to make sure you have options."

Kris felt his knees start to go weak at the thought of all that information. "Yeah, sure," he said. He walked over and sat on the couch next to Lucifer, going over the list and drumming his fingers on his knee in the pattern of electrical pulses he needed.

Lucifer noticed his tapping. "Nervous?" he asked.

Kris looked down at his hand and tried to hide his blush. "Maybe just a bit," he allowed.

"Don't worry. None of the villains who foster take people fighting against them personally. It's what you've been grown up and taught to believe. It's just business to them, but to you, it's your whole life when you're in that place," Lucifer said. "The whole point is to get you out. That takes time. And we're willing to put in the work for it."

"That's...generous," Kris said, feeling his stomach twist uncomfortably. He noticed that Lucifer purposefully wasn't using the word "deprogramming," but that's what this felt like. It felt like Lucifer saw him as some sick kid in over his head who didn't know which way was up. And Kris didn't much care for that viewpoint.

"I know it doesn't feel like it now, but you're fortunate. Some people would have left you on the side of the street had they beaten you and moved on with their lives. The school might have taken you back. Or it might not have. It would be all up to them, and I think you'd hate being at someone else's mercy worse than this situation you find yourself in now."

"What, I'm not at your mercy here?" Kris said sarcastically.

Lucifer considered, before shaking his head. "I don't happen to think so. You're free to leave whenever you'd like."

And Kris hated that fact. He hated that Lucifer was being kind to him. He didn't deserve kindness. He was betraying Lucifer in a few short days, possibly less time.

There was a sharp knock on the door and Lucifer startled. He looked out the window and swore. "When I gave you your phone, did you turn it all the way off?"

"Huh?" Kris asked.

"Your phone, did you shut it down or put it in sleep?!" Lucifer asked.

"I put it in sleep. Why—" They could track his phone if it was on. They knew he was alive and here.

Maybe that betrayal would happen a little sooner than expected.

Kris dashed through the house and up to the safe, pressing his ear against the metal as he tried to find the passcode. Lucifer was yelling after him downstairs, right before the house door burst in. Kris unlocked his phone and checked the email. It was all there, right down to phone numbers. Lucifer would have undoubtedly burned the sheet in his hand, but Kris had all the information he needed.

As he walked down the stairs, he could hear two people shouting. Lucifer and...Miss Perry. Huh. She came on this retrieval?

"—Tell me where she is!" Miss Perry exclaimed.

"I'll never tell you where _he_ is!" Lucifer spat back. "Do what you want to me, but you'll never get to him! Or the so-called 'others' you're talking about!"

Kris crept to the bottom of the stairs. Miss Perry was regarding Lucifer coolly. Then she said, "Kris, darling."

Kris snapped to attention. Miss Perry had never used his name before. "Ma'am?" he asked.

"Are there other children here?"

Kris' eyes darted to Lucifer, who was being held back by two men in suits. His eyes were full of burning hatred, but they weren't directed at Kris. Rather, he was trying to use a look that could kill on Miss Perry. "Yes, ma'am," he said.

"How many?" she asked.

"Four. But there are others. Other supers. In different places."

Miss Perry turned to him, genuine confusion and shock on her face. "Don't be ridicul—"

"I saw them last night," Kris said. "They came over. I helped make them stew. And I have a rough location on the Ice Queen. As well as several other rogue supers' phone numbers."

Lucifer laughed hollowly. "I knew that tapping wasn't random," he muttered. "I _knew_ you were up to something. I just didn't know what."

"Good thing we trained him so well," Miss Perry said with a honey-sweet smile at Lucifer. "Where do you have the information?"

"On my phone, ma'am," Kris said. He passed it over. "In my email."

Miss Perry unlocked the phone and grinned. "Would you look at that! They're all here!" she said, waving the phone victoriously at Lucifer. "We've got him. Round up the children."

Kris felt his stomach flip. "Are we taking them back to the school, ma'am?"

Miss Perry laughed, a harsh sound that had Kris' hackles rising. "Goodness, darling, no! They're tainted by this man's ideals! We're going to have to terminate them!"

Kris' mouth went dry. "T-t-terminate them?!" he asked in a voice just a tiny bit shy of a shriek.

"Well, if they can't be taught they must be disposed of," Miss Perry said to him. "But you've done excellent work, getting into the viper's nest and dealing with the eggs. It's enough for me to change your name and gender in the records, and talk to the doctors about getting you some hormones when you start menstruating. You did _very_ well."

Kris stood there, paralyzed. He had it. He had everything he could possibly want, right there. Hormones. A gender change. A name change. Miss Perry's acceptance. All there, ripe for the taking.

But at what cost? He'd have to sacrifice the blood of four kids, who never did anything to him, and the man who was kind to him without any stipulations, simply because he believed being kind was the right thing to do. Miss Perry was looking through Kris' phone, humming. She hadn't made note of any of the numbers yet. And, before even Kris realized what he was doing, he raised a hand and zapped the phone into a useless hunk of metal. Miss Perry yelped and dropped it, turning red and glowering at him. "You little _bitch,"_ she seethed. "Who do you think you are?"

Kris was trembling, knees almost giving out, but he forced himself to square his shoulders, look her in the eye, and say, "I think I'm the one who's going to save lives today."

"You'll never get the things you want at the school," Miss Perry spat.

"You're right!" Kris said brightly. "I'm not. Because I'm not going back. Fortunately for everyone there, neither are you!"

He zapped her, hard, enough force for her to feel like she had been struck by a rogue lightning bolt and then some. The guards holding Lucifer back rushed Kris, but Kris was in tip-top fighting shape, save for his concussion, and these guys were overdue for their training check-up. They were there more to look intimidating than anything else. They got a few cheap shots in, but Kris charged up all the power he could, before letting it explode as a shockwave into the hallway. The power went out in the house, and, judging by the shouting coming down the street, he took out the whole block. He looked at Lucifer, who still looked beyond pissed. "Sorry?" Kris tried.

"You and I will talk later," Lucifer spat. "Right now, we need to stop the madmen who are going to try and kill _my kids."_

Kris nodded and the two of them took off in a sprint. Kris could barely keep up with Lucifer, but fortunately, the local schoolhouse was two blocks away. Lucifer ran into the secretary's office and panted, "Jen, Asher, Carlisle, and Lily DiVile."

The secretary looked at Lucifer warily. "Yes?" she asked.

"There's been a family emergency, I need them pulled for the rest of the day," he said.

"I thought that those men...with the badges...worked for you, sir. Their verifications all lined up. They're already out at recess trying to pick up your children," she said.

She barely finished before Lucifer was out of the office again and Kris followed at the same, frantic pace. They made it outside to see three men in suits talking to a woman wearing a bright red smock and cap. Kris scanned the sea of kids, looking for one in particular. He spotted her by the monkey bars. "Lily!" he exclaimed, sprinting over to her.

Unfortunately, the men noticed and drew pistols. Children screamed and ran out of the way as Kris took a dive and covered Lily while the first shot rang out. Kris braced himself for unimaginable pain that never arrived. He glanced up to see Jen there, shielding him and Lily with a force field. "What the h—"

"I can see into the future," Jen said by way of reply. "What, how did you think I'd know you would be that stupid so I'd wear my forcefield generator today?"

Kris panted, a dopey smile on his face as he stood. "I don't know, but I'm so glad you di—"

He was cut off by a sharp slap from Jen. "Don't _ever_ try to expose or endanger my family again," she snarled.

Kris took a breath. "Yeah, okay, that's fair," he said. "Quick question, though. What's Lily's power?"

"She's a mimic," Jen said. "Don't ever let her near you if you value your electronics; she _will_ accidentally figure out your powers and zap them. She's seen into the future _far_ too many times after hanging out around me for a couple hours."

"Noted," Kris breathed.

When he turned back to the guys with the guns, they were all encased in solid rock and Lucifer was passing some money to the schoolyard woman. "I don't suppose we get the rest of the day off school, Dad?" Carlisle asked from the slides.

"Get down from there and get your stuff from class quickly; we have to make short work before anyone else figures out where we are," Lucifer said by way of reply.

"Sick!" Asher exclaimed from beside Carlisle, rushing to Lucifer's side.

Kris stood there even as Jen and Lily made their way over. Lucifer looked at him expectantly. "Coming, Kris?" he asked.

"I still get to?" Kris asked.

Lucifer nodded. "I'm not letting you off the hook that easily," he said. "Come along, now."

Kris jogged over and followed Lucifer and the others as they got their things from their classes and left. Everyone went back to Lucifer's house, and Kris was surprised to see that there were no agents waiting for them. "I thought for sure someone else would be here by now," he said.

"Too many people asking too many questions if Miss Perry left and told people where she was going," Lucifer said darkly. "She never had any intention of letting me or my kids live."

Kris swallowed. "Oh," he managed to say, a strangled cry.

Lucifer got all the kids in a minivan and invited Kris to sit shotgun. Although invitation was a bit of a kind word, considering that look Lucifer was giving him. Kris silently got in, and Lucifer drove until Lily was asleep, Asher was dozing, Carlisle was reading, and Jen had headphones in. "Want to explain that little stunt to me, Kris?" Lucifer asked.

"I just..." Kris stopped himself. Nothing he could ever say would justify what he did. "I don't have an excuse."

"No. You don't," Lucifer said simply. "You have no excuse for what you did. It was reckless, irresponsible. I worry about the day you might come home, decide you're too good for all of this, and turn on us again. What were you thinking?!"

Kris shrugged, staring out the front window as tears stung his eyes. "I thought...I thought I could be accepted at school. No one would think I was lame anymore if I took down a supervillain. No one would question me. I wouldn't be deadnamed because Miss Perry would change my records. And she would back me up if anyone used the wrong name."

"Would she, now?" Lucifer asked icily.

"I suppose that was a bit of wishful thinking," Kris said. "The last part."

"All of it is wishful thinking, Kris. Women like her don't change. I was trying to change my name from the same gender and she refused to use it. She never would have done what she promised you," Lucifer shook his head. "I don't blame you for falling for it. You're still just a kid. You didn't know."

Kris took a breath. "You do blame me for handing everything over, though?"

Lucifer glanced at Kris. "Honestly? Jen told me the first day she saw you that you would betray us. I told her we were keeping you in the house anyway. She wasn't pleased about it."

Kris swallowed. "That explains why she wasn't nice to me, or thrilled that I was there."

"I didn't realize you might try to betray everyone so strongly, or try to take down the entire network," Lucifer sighed. "If I had realized you were going to attempt that, I wouldn't have introduced them to you. Not at that point, at any rate."

"You have every right to be mad at me," Kris said. "And for what it's worth, I'm really, truly sorry."

Lucifer sighed. "I know you are. That's why this decision is so difficult for me."

Kris' stomach dropped. "What are you going to do to me?" he asked.

Lucifer shook his head. "I'm not sure yet," he admitted. "I need to figure that out. And while I do, you and the others will be staying at their grandparents' house. I need the time alone to think."

Kris felt his stomach twist in knots. "Does he know what I was going to do?"

"He did. He didn't know the details, but I told him what was going on," Lucifer explained. "And he helped me as much as he could when we didn't know what was going to happen. But know that I know...I need some time to myself."

"I don't blame you," Kris said, voice cracking. "You shouldn't keep me around."

Lucifer glanced at Kris. "You're probably right," he said by way of reply. "Your school will get a new headmaster. Regardless of if you killed Miss Perry or not, she won't be able to work there anymore. She was old as it was. The new headmaster will likely be more open, and they can use your name and your proper pronouns and treat you like not shit. I don't have to keep you around, nor is it probably a very wise idea."

Kris nodded miserably. He knew this was what he deserved. He betrayed people who were trying to treat him like family. This was all he deserved. Well, no. He deserved less. He deserved to be stuck in the house where he caused a block-wide blackout for the police to find him surrounded by people who wanted him dead. He deserved to be carted back to the school with no questions asked, and to be thrown into a deep, dark hole. He shouldn't be allowed to see the light of day ever again. He nearly got four kids killed. Some hero he was.

Lucifer pulled into a driveway and got out, gathering the kids' attention. Kris got out mechanically, operating on autopilot. He was exhausted, his head hurt, his heart ached, and his entire body was screaming at him to rest. This day just couldn't seem to get worse.

Lucifer and his dad were talking in low tones, and they kept looking back at him and the others. Kris felt terrible. Lily tugged on the hem of his shirt. "Hey," she said. "You saved us in the end and that's what counts, right?"

Kris offered her a thin smile. "Not always," he told her simply. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

"So is the road to heaven, I would think," Jen sad simply. "Because you don't deserve to hang around us and Lucifer."

"I know," Kris said.

His guilt hung around him like a thick fog as Lucifer's dad welcomed everyone in and Lucifer drove away. Kris watched him go with a heavy heart. He had blown his chance at being accepted. And how selfish was it, that he was upset over that? He was upset over almost killing everyone, but he was focusing on the fact that his name wouldn't be used properly? He was a joke.

As the others worked on homework in various places around the house, Kris just sat at the kitchen counter, tracing circles on the granite. "So I heard about what happened today," Lucifer's dad said from behind Kris.

"Yeah," Kris said sadly. "I screwed up."

"No use crying over spilled milk, son."

"This isn't spilled milk," Kris countered. "This is spilled blood. I nearly killed your son and grandchildren. Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because everyone, no matter how badly they screwed up, deserves kindness," Lucifer's dad said.

"Don't even try me with that. Some people don't deserve kindness. Some people just deserve to crawl in a hole and die," Kris moped. "And I'm one of those people. All I wanted was to help, but I hurt everyone in the worst way possible."

Lucifer's dad sat down next to Kris. "Kris," he said firmly. "Look at me."

Kris looked over, and saw a fire in those eyes that he had never imagined could be there. "I'm a screw-up too," he said. "I've made every mistake in the book and then some. I knocked a girl up, let them take away our baby. I didn't try to search for him, didn't try to help him for years. And when I finally did, he was angry, and bitter, and had to deal with far too much on his own to be eager to accept my help. I became a supervillain. I went rogue from the very people who are supposed to keep the world safe from people like me. And you know what?"

"What?" Kris asked.

"Despite that, I'm still here," Lucifer's dad said. "I worked with Lucie to get him to forgive me. We came to an agreement, and we grew closer, until I became a confidante for him. I didn't try to destroy the world, just the corrupt systems that are hurting supers and normal people alike. And now I have a larger family than I could have ever dreamed of. I have four grandchildren who love me dearly, and plenty more grandchildren in spirit. I have a life that I never would have expected, but wouldn't change for the world. Despite the way I got here not being pretty, I did get here. And I'm happier for it."

Kris shook his head. "I don't think Lucifer is going to forgive me," he said.

"It may take time," Lucifer's dad said. "You broke his trust. It will take time to rebuild that. But that doesn't mean he doesn't care for you. That doesn't mean that he won't fight for you every step of the way. Understand?"

Kris shrugged. "I think you're being a tad optimistic," he mumbled.

"Maybe," Lucifer's dad said with an easy-going grin. "But maybe not."

Kris was left alone with a pat on the shoulder, and eventually, he decided that he didn't want to stay in the kitchen to mope any longer. The other kids and Lucifer's dad had gone outside with sidewalk chalk and were drawing all over the driveway, and Kris sat at the edge with Lucifer's dad. "Say I'm not the scum of the earth," he said slowly. "What happens then?"

"Well, I imagine that you and I will have a talk at some point," Lucifer's dad said. "About trust and kindness and all that good stuff. Or you and my son might have it. Or hell, all three of us might get together and discuss it, because Lucie wants to articulate something the right way and needs my help. But at the end of the day, we have that discussion. You go home with the others, whether that's back to Lucie's house or if they relocate. Provided you still want to be with them, of course. And Lucie decides that you can be trusted. After that, I imagine Lucie would help you find doctors in the area who can help you. Make sure you're becoming the man you want to become, and all that good stuff. I know he was looking into chest binders and the like the other day so he could know how to help you with that."

"He would do that? Even after all I did?" Kris asked.

"If you're part of his family, yes," Lucifer's dad said. "He fiercely takes care of his own. It's not a bad thing, him trying to get you to trust him. He may have thought that you went down a little too easy but pushed it aside in favor of making sure you felt welcomed. I doubt he'll make that same mistake again. He'll make you earn his trust. Which isn't a bad thing. I had to do that, myself. But when he does open up to you again, and the two of you can have a talk..." Lucifer's dad beamed. "I'm sure the two of you will be thick as thieves. He takes care of his own. No matter what it takes. And it might be scary, and it might take a while, and a lot of tears and hard work will go into it. But you have potential, Kris. No use to let that potential go to waste."

Kris nodded. "I do want to help him," he said simply. "I want to be on his side. It's clear that the side I was raised on isn't going to be the side for me anymore. And until I can make my own...I'm fine being on his."

"Something tells me that if you're on his side, you won't need to make your own," Lucifer's dad whispered conspiratorially.

The minivan pulled up as the sun was setting and all the other kids flocked to it. Lucifer hugged each of them in turn and talked to them, making sure they were okay. After making sure everyone else was okay, he walked up to Kris.

Kris hastily stood and cleared his throat. "So. I guess you made your decision?" he asked.

"Made it almost as soon as I left," Lucifer said simply. "Just had to arrange some things before I could come back."

Kris' stomach dropped. "You're sending me away, then? Making sure someone else would take me?"

"No one was pleased with what you tried to do, Kristopher," Lucifer said. "No one wanted to have you over. Not, at least, for some time."

Kris' eyes were prickling with tears. "So...I'm going back to the school, then?"

Lucifer didn't respond verbally. He just gestured for Kris to follow him. Kris did so, feeling that detachment from his body start up again, and he was worried that something might happen that he didn't know about. Would Lucifer have the ground swallow him up? Would he be driven away to the school again? Or would he be abandoned on the side of the street?

When Lucifer opened the back of the van, Kris looked inside, and his tears fell down his cheeks as the dam broke. Lucifer held him close and whispered, "You're going to have to earn your way back into this family, you understand. This isn't a free pass to do whatever you want, whenever you want."

Kris nodded, frantically choking out "thank you" after "thank you."

Lucifer just held Kris as he cried, looking at the luggage in the back of the car, open and full of men's clothes, as well as the personal superhero suit he had designed, repaired and looking as good as new. He was here. He was accepted. And while it wouldn't be easy to win everyone back after the things he had done, he knew, that no matter what, he was welcome here. He had a family. It was more than he was hoping for.

And that was more than he could ever hope to ask for, from anyone.

* * *

As the mess in the street unfolded, Kris took as deep a breath as he could in his binder. He was watching Lucifer distract all the people from the local school who had come to this mission. He did it effortlessly, keeping lava always close enough to them to stay on their toes, but far enough away to not hurt anyone. Jen, Carlisle, and Asher were all nearby on surveillance, and Lily was at Grandad's house, getting everything set up. Kris noticed Lucifer's signal and he walked down the street towards the petrified child who was watching this all unfold. "You okay, kid?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

The child shook his head, watching the fight and never once sparing a glance at Kris.

"Come on, why don't we get out of here?" Kris asked. "Maybe in a bit we can check on your family, but something tells me that right now they might want to have some space."

"Don't got a family," the boy said, wrinkling his nose. "Just the foster home. Don't like it very much."

"Hey, foster homes can be okay, but not all of them are, I get that," Kris said. "Still. Why don't we get away from the chaos a bit?"

The boy nodded, and Kris led him to the small sedan that Lucifer had rented for the day. "How old are you?" the boy asked.

"Just turned sixteen a little bit ago," Kris said with a smile. "I have my license and everything."

"Do you work for those guys in suits? Or the one with the lava?" the boy asked.

"I don't work for either of them," Kris said enigmatically.

"But you have to work for one of them! The good guys or the bad guys!" the boy exclaimed.

"I think, as time goes on, you'll realize that everyone calls themselves the good guys and the other team the bad guys. It just so happens that one team is more right than the other," Kris said. "Strap in."

The boy did so. "...I'm Blake," he said eventually.

"Kris," Kris said.

"You don't look like a Kris," Blake said.

"Oh? What do I look like, then?" Kris asked.

"A Jack maybe. Or Chad," Blake said, laughing a little.

Kris laughed with him. "You know, that's the first time I've ever been called a Chad," he said, grinning at Blake in the rearview mirror. "Thanks for the laugh."

Blake offered Kris a grin. "Seriously, though, who do you work for?"

"I don't work _for_ anyone, honest," Kris said. "I work _with_ the guy with the lava."

"Oh! Good," Blake said.

"Good?" Kris asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah. He seemed much nicer than the guys in suits who were bribing the people in my foster home to sell me away," Blake said.

"He's super nice," Kris agreed. "Got me out of a lot of jams when I wasn't much older than you. Accepted me into his family. And I've been working with him ever since."

"Really?" Blake asked. "And you like his family?"

"We argue sometimes, but yeah, at the end of the day, I like them," Kris said. "They'll always be my family."

The boy grew quiet, and Kris drove down the streets, letting Blake think for a while. "I'd like to have a family like that, one day," Blake said softly.

"Well, you're in luck, then, because we just so happen to have an opening you're possible to fill," Kris said. "It's not the most glamorous of positions, but it's better than most places, I've found."

"Cool!" Blake said, before looking down. "Sorry, was I too loud?"

"Not at all," Kris said easily. "Were you accused of being too loud a lot in your foster home?"

"Yeah," Blake said, wincing. "It wasn't great."

Kris shook his head. "I know how that goes, kinda," Kris said. "Except, with me everyone thought I was a girl and would yell at me if I said I was a boy."

"Why? You're obviously a boy," Blake said, gesturing at Kris.

"It wasn't always so obvious," Kris said with a sad smile. "But with my family, you'll enjoy being whoever you are, whenever you want."

"Sounds nice," Blake said. "What's your last name, so I know?"

Kris grinned. "DiVile," he said. "My full name is Kristopher Lucifer DiVile."

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all comments appreciated!


End file.
